Analytical strategies to tackle the actual difficulties in MOSH/MOAH determination

For more than a decade, mineral oil saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons (MOSH/MOAH) are considered as relevant contaminants in foodstuffs. The long-awaited updated risk assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) raised new questions regarding the composition and toxicity of MOAH. Furthermore, first drafts for European regulative upper limits are on the horizon and inter-laboratory comparability subject to improvement. Nonetheless, MOSH/MOAH analytics is routinely performed by official authorities, food producers, and contract laboratories.

An elaborated sample preparation in conjunction with hyphenation of HPLC and GC-FID is used for quantitation. While this combination allows for accurate and robust results, it still has potential for optimization and cannot answer all raised questions, such as regarding MOAH compositions. Other analytical strategies are necessary to address these issues.

Multiple approaches were proposed in the past. The addition of mass spectrometry or comprehensive GCxGC methods were only two ideas. As part of the presented work, actual trends are discussed in terms of performance and simplicity. Finally, further improvements for the sample preparation protocol are shown and the applicability for a broad range of food matrices.